The northern portion of River Rd and a portion of Rt. 86 is bordered by the Sentinel Wilderness near Wilmington. With the W. Ausable in mind, would it be legal primitive camping to park overnight at a pull off on either road and set up a tent well off the road, vs. the not so attractive Wilmington Notch campground?

Owen or Copperas Pond trailheads would seem to be legal to park overnight but perhaps set up camp just down the trail instead of at the ponds.

You're not going to find any place to camp "just down the trail" on the way into Owen or Copperas Ponds- the trails climb steeply and there's dense undergrowth. Copperas isn't a far walk in, either, and the walk is worth it- it's a nice place to camp. In addition to the lean-to, there is a nice designated tent site around on the south side of the pond. If you're looking for easy, legal primitive camping in this area, I'd say that this is probably your best bet.

I've never been able to get a satisfactory answer as to whether the tent site at Owen Pond is legal or not- I swear I've seen "No Camping" signs there in the past, but the past few times I've been there it's been unmarked either way.

There is an old road that leads up the west side of the outlet of Holcomb Pond, before turning east and disappearing into the swamps alongside that same outlet. You might be able to find a primitive site up in here, but again, my memory of this area is that the forests are thick. (The intrepid bushwhacker can pick up the same old road on the far side of the swamps and follow it for several miles before it fades out not far from North Notch.)

If you look closely there is actually a place you could set up a tent on the east side of the road [86] in that general vicinity. It was paved years back and is a few hundred feet long. I'm guessing it was built when some road construction was taking place and was either used as a temporary lane or a place to park construction vehicles though the latter places aren't usually paved.
I do not know if any trees block driving on it now but 20 years ago you could. I know it is still there as I saw it a year or two ago.

There's a few (maybe 2-3? It's been a few years since I walked back in there). I'm not sure that the pull off to access the sites (different than the pull off for the scenic views of the pond) is maintained for winter use, but one could always park down the road and walk the short distance to the campsites.

There is also a designated DEC tent site near the River Trail in the Flume Trails network, just a short walk in from the Marble Mountain trailhead on Route 86 (just northeast of the Hungry Trout Restaurant and immediately after the bridge over the West Branch Ausable River. It's not shown on the ADK High Peaks map, but it's listed on the DEC web page for Wilmington Wild Forest, and I saw it when I was there in June 2016. It's probably 5 - 10 minutes in from the parking area.

There is also a designated DEC tent site near the River Trail in the Flume Trails network, just a short walk in from the Marble Mountain trailhead on Route 86 (just northeast of the Hungry Trout Restaurant and immediately after the bridge over the West Branch Ausable River. It's not shown on the ADK High Peaks map, but it's listed on the DEC web page for Wilmington Wild Forest, and I saw it when I was there in June 2016. It's probably 5 - 10 minutes in from the parking area.

I surveyed the sites last September and counted 5 designated campsites. Three are next to the interior access road (with room to park a car) whereas the remaining two are a short walk up the hill and in the sparse woods. The area is popular with climbers.

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